Driving Sustainability in European Public Procurement – Event Coming Soon!

We are proud to be supporting a conference later this month in Brussels – an event we thought you would be interested to hear about. Driving Sustainability in European Public Procurement is taking place in Brussels on November 27th and it’s free to attend for public procurement leaders, stakeholders, practitioners, suppliers and anyone interested in understanding more about how governments can leverage their buying power to support a resource-efficient, energy-efficient and circular economy for sustainable economic development – which sits at the heart of Public Spend Forum’s vision.

The conference will debate what the EU and Member States can do to ensure a wider uptake in strategic public procurement at all levels of government, the challenges and opportunities for procurement authorities and suppliers, and will look at best practices from selected industries. To do this it has an array of senior executives speaking and taking part in panel sessions representing the European Commission (in Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness; the Directorate for Single Market for Public Administrations; and the Circular Economy and Green Growth), the European Parliament, Dell EMC, SKL Kommentus Central Procurement Board, Competence Centre for Sustainable Procurement German Federal Ministry of the Interior, Know the Chain (expert in supply chain transparency and legal disclosure), ICLEI, and The National Agency for Public Procurement Sweden. So a good mix of experienced people working within organisations that focus on effective public procurement, and a sustainable, greener economy.

The event is organised by Forum Europe, which specialises in EU-focused political and economic conferences and debates, and Dell Inc., part of Dell Technologies. Highlights of the day include a good, practical look, in the shape of a panel discussion, at why governments should stimulate public procurement of sustainable goods and services, how public buyers should apply such criteria in practice, and how suppliers from different sectors can deal with these requirements. A subsequent debate will put social and supply chain sustainability into focus. Following that will be an interview session comparing national procurement strategies from several European countries.

There will be an opportunity to join more intimate roundtable discussions in the afternoon, to address specific topics such as: What should be the European Commission’s role to help increase the uptake of sustainable procurement in the EU? What should Member States do to increase the uptake of sustainable procurement in the EU? and What can the private sector contribute to increase the use of SPP criteria? So this promises to be an interesting and lively day of discussion from both an EU and National perspective which should promote debate, ideas and working examples for sustainable public procurement for all stakeholders. There will of course be time for networking, Q&A and engaging with speakers.

Registration for this event is open, and while it is free to attend, spaces are limited, so do register now.

The agenda is here, and more about the event, including venue and practical information here.